“Martha, we are leaving now. Thank you for everything until now.”
“Master, Martha-sama, we’ll be going away. Thank you so much for taking care of me.”
“Have a safe trip. You two can come visit anytime you want. I’ll be waiting here for you.”
“Now go. And take care of yourselves.”
A week had passed. We received 10 large silver coins (50,000 J) and a pouch as farewell gifts. Martha said that carelessly using ‘Infinite Inventory’ was too dangerous and that I should use that instead and try to pass it off as a magic bag. Since ‘Infinite Inventory’ was a really rare kind of magic that allowed anything that wasn’t a living being to be stored, there were bound to be people who would do nasty stuff to get their hands on it. I already had the many sandwiches she had prepared stored, and if I needed money she said that I could sell a few of the magic stones from the beasts I had defeated. Since I had many of them, money shouldn’t be a problem.
“Well, then, let’s go!”
“Yes.”
I left with Firis, heading towards the capital.
*****************************************
After walking for an hour, we arrived at the city of Pranzika, past the city of Wilde! We ran into the gatekeeper keeping watch of the wooden entrance on the wall surrounding the city.
“What happened missy? Are you lost?”
He asked me. His body was firmly built and he seemed to be in his forties. His face was so stern that any other girl of my age would have started crying if he asked like that.
“Nope, I’m not lost. I want to get into the city but… What do I need in order to do that?”
“You only need some sort of identification documents to enter the city. If you don’t have any, you can pay with one silver coin (1,000 J). Then you can go to the guild to request a card, once you have one, you can come back here and I’ll return you your coin. Where did you come from? Also, what is that dog thing over there?”
He asked firmly while stroking his stubbled chin.
“I came from the Garusta forest in the city of Wilde. This girl is Firis, the monster I have a pact with.”
I petted Firis’ head when I spoke her name.
“So from the forest where the Red Witch lives! Missy, could you be the witch’s daughter??”
“Hm? Just adopted though. Is Martha well-known around here?”
“I see, so she adopted you. She’s not only well-known, she could be said to be this country’s hero. It was her who built schools and orphanages for poor children. She’s also famous among the adventurers; it was her who had been the most active when we had those large waves of monsters. If it hadn’t been for her, this whole country wouldn’t have even existed by now. She’s even part of fairy tales now so there isn’t a single person who doesn’t know about her. You didn’t know any of that?”
“No, this is my first time hearing any of this.”
I really didn’t know about it. Maybe it’s because of this that she had decided to seclude herself in the forest to avoid any commotion living in a city…ahahahah….
“I see. I guess that if the witch appeared in public it would cause a large uproar. One day fifty years ago she suddenly disappeared. It was said that she was living in a forest but I never thought it was true.”
“Whew. Umm, keep it a secret that Martha raised me, please.”
I handed him two large silver coins at the same time. I meant it as a way to seal off his mouth. It wasn’t a large sum though, probably.
“Got it, don’t worry missy. That’s one coin too much. My name is Vant by the way.”
“I’m Amelia. And keep the money, Vant-san. Nice to meet you.”
I didn’t forget to smile brightly as I said that.
“You seem like a quite mature girl. But I can’t say I’m not worried so I’ll return it to you. And yeah, nice to meet you!”
Saying so, he returned to me one large and four regular silver coins.
“Okay then. Also, Vant-san, could you tell me where the adventurer’s guild is?”
I asked while I took the money.
“Sure, walk straight from here and then turn to the left at the cat sign. When you enter tell the receptionist you got a referral from Vant. As for an inn, I recommend the Forest’s Blessed Household. The owner there likes children so they’ll treat you well. Just tell them I sent you there. It’s the first building you’ll see while walking on the main street. You’ll know it by the sign of a tree, just look for it.”
“Thank you.”
I thanked him and went inside the city.
Inside the city I heard the loud voices of merchants selling and customers haggling. It was a really lively place. Compared to Wilde, there were also way more tall buildings here. I almost felt like I had come to Europa.
‘Firis, there’re so many people here!’
‘For sure, we should watch out so we don’t get separated. I’m worried about you.’
‘Maybe we should go ahead and book a room at the inn?’
“Let’s do that.”
We started off towards the inn, but we found it almost immediately so we didn’t get lost.